Upload speed gradually decreasing to an unusable speed

[AlexanderD]

This issue just started occurring last week, and none of the devices at home have changed at all, so I am not sure what has happened.

My wife streams for a living and since last week, our upload speed had gradually been dropping when she is streaming until it reaches anywhere between 25-50Mbps, which is absolutely unusable.
The upload speed used to be (AND SHOULD BE) 100+ Mbps, based on the service we are paying for.

We've done countless router restarts, updated and reinstalled everything on her computer (including drivers and software being used.) and even received a new router from a Service Tech.

Support chat always tells us to reboot the router, leaving it unplugged for 30+ seconds, and this will fix the issue for maybe 30-45 minutes before dropping back down to that 25-50Mbps speed.
It's not viable to restart the router every hour, cutting off our internet for a partial fix.

Does anyone have ANY ideas? I'm really at my wits end and my wife is completely out of work if we can't fix this

[rstra]

@AlexanderD What are the speeds like on other devices?

[AlexanderD]

Speeds on all other devices are just as bad. Wireless devices have worse speed, as expected

[mdk]

@AlexanderD -- when you run the Shaw Speed Test, using an Ethernet-connected computer, what numbers are produced?

Have you replaced the coaxial-cable between the cable-modem and your wall-outlet? Are the cable's connections very tight?

If you connect the cable-modem to a different wall-socket that is active, rerun the test.

Are your computer and your cable-modem powered from the same power-bar? ("grounding" issues?)

Contact Shaw Support, and get the Agent to remotely logon to your cable-modem, to view the "signal strength" reaching it. Bad levels will cause symptoms.

Got any neighbour also using Shaw, who can run the Speed Test on their computer, to see if their coaxial-cable from their home to the nearest telephone-pole is any better than yours?

Avoid all "CAT-5" Ethernet cables, which max-out at 100 Mbps. Use "CAT-5e" or "CAT-6" cables.

>> The upload speed used to be (AND SHOULD BE) 100+ Mbps.

Shaw customers who signed-up with Shaw before the Rogers take-over get up to 100 Mbps for uploads, while "new" customers of Rogers Internet can get up to 150 Mbps.

[AlexanderD]

"when you run the Shaw Speed Test, using an Ethernet-connected computer, what numbers are produced?"
This varies depending on the time of day, doing it now in the morning, we are getting 900+Mbps Download, and 130+Mbps Upload, but in the evening the upload speed will drop to 25-50 Mbps Upload.

We have replaced the Coaxial-cable when a new router was installed for us by a Shaw Service Tech/
The router power does connect directly to the wall, in the same outlet as the computer, but my 2nd computer also receives the same upload speed issues.
We use relatively new CAT-6 cables for our ethernet connections.

We have another Service Call scheduled for Friday, as the last Chat Support Agent stated there's a minor signal issue, but it shouldn't be bad enough to warrant these speeds. 

We do live in an apartment / condo unit, so at this point, with the speed only seeming to really degrade in the evening, I have to believe we are being bottlenecked due to heavy network traffic in our building / neighbourhood. 
If there's nothing Shaw (now Rogers) can do to resolve that issue, I may be forced to switch to Telus to see if we get more consistent speeds.

[mdk]

@AlexanderD wrote: If there's nothing Shaw (now Rogers) can do to resolve that issue ...

Is there nothing that your condominium association can do to contact Shaw (now Rogers) to speak on behalf of all the building's residents?

If you lived in a single-family residence, you would get "fiber-to-the-home" from Telus. But, in your building, Telus probably has fiber to the building's primary wiring-closet, and then twisted-pair copper wires to the wiring-closet on each level, and more twisted-pair copper to your unit, e.g., Telus is not running fiber into your home network.  So, no "high-speed" service into your residence. 

Note that Rogers is starting to roll-out 5G wireless Internet -- using their cell-phone towers to communicate with their cellular-capable modem in your home, thus bypassing your building's internal wiring. Contact Rogers for availability in your area.

P.S. How many other "professional streamers" in your building who stream only in the evening, and contribute to the saturation?

[AlexanderD]

I can absolutely reach out to my condo association, and see if this is occurring to anyone else, but if it doesn't seem to be a mass-issue i'm not sure what they can do.

I'm not sure how you would know what sort of setup Telus has for our building, I would most likely find out that information for myself once I contact them.

>>"P.S. How many other "professional streamers" in your building who stream only in the evening, and contribute to the saturation?"

This is impossible to know unless I went door to door to the 50+ units in my building, but I presume most households computer and network activity increases in the evening after business hours.

[rstra]

@AlexanderD  If you are in a newer building, there is a good chance you have fibre to your unit. Also, Telus has rewired a lot of older buildings. If your condo has a media panel, you could look to see if there is fibre. 

If Rogers can’t resolve the problem, you may want to get Telus on a monthly plan and do a side by side test with Rogers.

[AlexanderD]

As an update to this, I have had my wife attempt to stream in the morning to avoid network congestion and the same Upload speed degredation occurs. a few minutes after starting, our upload speed drops to that same 25-50Mbps, and she can't continue.

If it is not heavy network congestion that is bottlenecking the upload speed, I am truly out of ideas. I do not know what could be causing this and I am at a complete loss.

[mdk]

@AlexanderD wrote: our upload speed drops to that same 25-50 Mbps, and she can't continue.

What is she streaming that requires that speed?  Can she continue after reducing the outgoing speed, without sacrificing the quality of the stream?

Has she contacted Shaw Business, to obtain a "business" level of connectivity for her business?

>>  I am not sure how you would know what sort of setup Telus has for our building,

Neither am I sure.  However, it depends on the age of the building, and as @rstra stated, it depends whether Telus has installed fiber from the street into the primary wiring-closet in your building, and whether Telus has installed fiber from that primary wiring-closet to the secondary wiring-closet on your floor of the building, and whether Telus has installed fiber from the secondary wiring-closet into your unit.  Probably, you'll have to ask your Building Manager to unlock the doors to each wiring-closet, to view the network infrastructure.

I would most likely find out that information for myself once I contact them.

True.

I presume most households computer and network activity increases in the evening after business hours.

True.  Online "gamers" probably go online outside of business hours (early morning or all evening).